Job 10
1 “I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
My soul is weary of my life: I will give free course to my complaint; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.
2 I will say to God: Do not condemn me! Let me know why You prosecute me.
I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; shew me wherefore thou strivest with me.
3 Does it please You to oppress me, to reject the work of Your hands and favor the schemes of the wicked?
Doth it please thee to oppress, that thou shouldest despise the work of thy hands, and shine upon the counsel of the wicked?
4 Do You have eyes of flesh? Do You see as man sees?
Hast thou eyes of flesh? or seest thou as man seeth?
5 Are Your days like those of a mortal, or Your years like those of a man,
Are thy days as the days of a mortal? are thy years as a man's days,
6 that You should seek my iniquity and search out my sin—
That thou searchest after mine iniquity, and inquirest into my sin;
7 though You know that I am not guilty, and there is no deliverance from Your hand?
Since thou knowest that I am not wicked, and that there is none that delivereth out of thy hand?
8 Your hands shaped me and altogether formed me. Would You now turn and destroy me?
Thy hands have bound me together and made me as one, round about; yet dost thou swallow me up!
9 Please remember that You molded me like clay. Would You now return me to dust?
Remember, I beseech thee, that thou hast made me as clay, and wilt bring me into dust again.
10 Did You not pour me out like milk, and curdle me like cheese?
Hast thou not poured me out as milk, and curdled me like cheese?
11 You clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews.
Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and knit me together with bones and sinews;
12 You have granted me life and loving devotion, and Your care has preserved my spirit.
Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy care hath preserved my spirit;
13 Yet You concealed these things in Your heart, and I know that this was in Your mind:
And these things didst thou hide in thy heart; I know that this was with thee.
14 If I sinned, You would take note, and would not acquit me of my iniquity.
If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity.
15 If I am guilty, woe to me! And even if I am righteous, I cannot lift my head. I am full of shame and aware of my affliction.
If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being [so] full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; —
16 Should I hold my head high, You would hunt me like a lion, and again display Your power against me.
And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me.
17 You produce new witnesses against me and multiply Your anger toward me. Hardships assault me in wave after wave.
Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions [of evil] and a time of toil are with me.
18 Why then did You bring me from the womb? Oh, that I had died, and no eye had seen me!
And wherefore didst thou bring me forth out of the womb? I had expired, and no eye had seen me.
19 If only I had never come to be, but had been carried from the womb to the grave.
I should be as though I had not been; I should have been carried from the womb to the grave.
20 Are my days not few? Withdraw from me, that I may have a little comfort,
Are not my days few? cease then and let me alone, that I may revive a little,
21 before I go—never to return— to a land of darkness and gloom,
Before I go, and never to return, — to the land of darkness and the shadow of death;
22 to a land of utter darkness, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness.”
A land of gloom, as darkness itself; of the shadow of death, without any order, where the light is as thick darkness.
